Gov Diri Launches Tinubu’s Re-election Campaign In Yenagoa

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has admonished politicians to respect their opponents and ensure that campaigns for the 2027 general election are respectful and issue-based.

He made the appeal yesterday at the 195th State Executive Council (SEC) meeting at Government House and at the flag-off of President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign at Oxbow Lake in Yenagoa, organised by a political group, the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement.

The governor stated that the charge was prompted by the commencement of campaigns for next year’s elections.

Diri urged members of the group to emulate President Tinubu, whom he described as a democrat, by being persuasive rather than combative with those who hold contrary opinions, insisting that democracy encourages people to hold divergent views.

In a statement made available to journalists in Abuja by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, the governor expressed optimism that the South-South geopolitical zone and Nigerians would re-elect Tinubu.

He hailed the Grand Patron of the movement, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, for the initiative, stressing that the President deserved a second term to enable him to consolidate the gains of his first tenure.

He said Tinubu was laying a solid foundation for Nigeria’s development beyond his tenure and urged Nigerians to support him in the interest of national development.

He recalled how the President ensured a free and fair election during his second-term governorship bid in November 2023 and in last Saturday’s governorship poll in Osun State, stressing that Tinubu’s democratic credentials were not in doubt.

Governor Diri also congratulated his Osun counterpart, Governor Ademola Adeleke, on his victory in the election.

His words: “The purpose of our gathering is to restate without equivocation our unflinching loyalty to the re-election of President Tinubu and to flag off the South-South zone of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement.

“While we hold the firm conviction that the South-South people and Nigerians will vote for Mr President, we must not sit down. We are all students of politics, and politics is a game of numbers. Victory is not by accident.

“Even outside Nigeria, people move from door to door and that is why this movement is democratic. Democracy is about the plurality of decisions. Do not make those who hold different opinions enemies. Wherever you go and people disagree with you, try to convince them. Do not see them as enemies.

“As a region, we are one people and must all work together to achieve the aim of this movement. Mr President is a Democrat, and he has proved it time and again, even during my second-term election when I was in the opposition and most recently in Osun State. Let me congratulate my brother, the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke,” Diri said.